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ANUPAMCHATTERJEENewDelhi, July 17
SOLAR AND WIND powerplants inAndhraPradesh,withaggregate
capacity of 8,000megawatt (MW),have claimedthat their
under-recoveryowingtoinadequatetariffpay-ments by the state
discomshave reached a
staggering`5,000crore.Whathascausedthecrisisis
thestategovernment’sdecisionto retrospectively amend thepower
purchase pacts, citingmalpractices.AsperAndhraPradeshHigh
Court’sSeptember2019order,thestate-ownedpowerdistrib-ution
companies (discoms) arepaying these plants at a provi-sional rate
of `2.43/unit,against the `4.84/unit tariffapproved by the state
powerregulatorearlierunderthepre-vious state government,
lead-ingtothefinancialstressoftherenewablepowerproducers.Toaddtotheirwoes,thestategov-ernment
is amending its solar
andwindpowerpolicies,effec-tivelywithdrawing the incen-tives
which were offered totheseplants earlier
topromoterenewableenergyinthestate.Suspending older provi-
sions,thestategovernmenthasaskedtheelectricityregulatortolevytransmissionanddistribu-tionchargesforwheelingpowerforwindandsolarplantswhichsells
electricity directly toindustrial consumers throughthe open access
mechanism.Thiscanraisepowercostsbyasmuch as `5/unit
(`3/unitwheeling charges, `1.5/unitcross subsidy charges and
`0.5/unitdistributioncharges),rendering these sources
unvi-ableforopenaccessconsumersresulting in these projects
los-ingcustomers.The state government,
againsttheadviceoftheUnionpowerministry,had formed acommittee to
revise “abnor-mally pricedwind and solar”power purchase
agreements(PPAs),sayingtheremighthavebeen linked with
“malafideintentions” and could
have“resultedinunjustifiedburdenontheconsumersofthestate”.
ContinuedonPage2
IN THE RED REDX PLAN
FE BUREAUNewDelhi, July 17
IN WHAT CAN be seen as anembarrassment for the Tele-com
Regulatory Authority ofIndia (Trai), the Telecom
Dis-putesSettlementandAppellateTribunal (TDSAT) on
Fridaystayedtheformer’sdirectivetoVodafone Idea towithhold
itsRedXplan,which promises
4Gnetworkonaprioritybasistoitscertainpremiumcustomers.Although it
is an interim
stayordergrantedontheprin-cipleofnatural
justiceandTraihasbeenallowedtoconductitsinquiry into the plan and
passitsfinalorder,Itisneverthelessa partial victory forVodafoneIdea
as it can carryonwith theplanandon-board subscriberstill
then.ForTrai, it is a setbacksince the tribunal has directedit
tofirstgiveVodafoneIdeaanopportunitytoexplainitsposi-tion on the
plan,and observedthat theregulatorhadfailed toestablish why the
tariff planneededtobesuspendedtocon-ductan inquiry.
Earlier thisweek,VodafoneIdea had moved the TDSATchallenging
Trai’s directiveasking the company towith-hold the plan till
thematter isexamined.
ContinuedonPage2
SUMITJHANewDelhi, July 17
NON-RESIDENTINDIANCIT-IZENS are liable to pay tax inIndia only
on India income,but they may still not becompletely impervious
tobeing asked to pay tax in thecountry on their globalincome, if
they had, at somepoint,filed tax return in Indiaas a resident. This
is anintriguing prospect for acountrywithanexceptionally
diverse diaspora, including agalaxy of billionaire corpo-rate
honchos.The IncomeTaxAppellate
Tribunal (ITAT) in Mumbaihas recently affirmed anorder issued by
the relevantcommissioner-appeal,askingan81-yearoldwoman,claim-ing
to be a US resident post-FY06, to pay tax in Indiaon `196.5 crore
purportedlyheld by her in the financialyear 2005-06 in a
now-dis-banded Swiss bank account
(HSBC Private Bank (Suisse)SA, Geneva), which sherefuses to
own.
The individual — oneRenu T Tharani — had filedincome-tax return
in India in
2006 for the relevant assess-ment year as ‘resident’,reporting
an income of `1.7lakh,whichwasbelowthe taxliability threshold.The
income tax depart-
ment opened a reassessmentproceeding in 2014 after itstumbled
upon the Swissbank account.The taxpayer in her
defence argued against thevalidity of the reassessmentprocess
and whether theassesseewas indeedthebene-
ficiary of the Swiss bankaccount in thenameofa fam-ilyTrust.The
tribunal held that
the assesse’s conduct wasakin to ‘running with thehare and
hunting with thehounds’ as she had declinedto sign a ‘consent
waiver’ soas to enable the income taxdepartment to obtain all
thenecessary details from theSwiss bank.
ContinuedonPage2
MONEY ORDER
ANKURMISHRAMumbai, July 17
ALTICO CAPITAL ON Fridayfiled an application with theReserve
Bank of India (RBI) totransfer the ownership toHongKong-based
SSGCapitalfrom existing investors —Clearwater Capital
Partners,Varde Partners andAbuDhabiInvestmentCouncil
(ADIC).LenderstoAlticoCapitalhad
earliervoted in the favourof aresolution plan submitted
byspecial situations fund SSGCapital,which offered `2,754crore for
theNBFC,against thetotaldebtof`4,300crore.Addi-tionally, `354 crore
has beenpromised in the formof secu-rity receipts,as per the
resolu-tionplan.Thechangeinowner-ship will pave the way for
thefirst NBFC resolution underJune7,2019,circularofRBI.Although the
deal was
closed inMarch,employees ofAlticoCapitalhadsubsequentlyraised
issues about SSG Capi-tal’s proposed takeover of thecompany to the
regulator. FEhas learned that employees ofthe company had raised
con-cerns toRBI aboutwindingupof Altico Capital by the
newowner.Accordingtosources,allthe concerns of the
employeeshavebeenaddressed.
ContinuedonPage2
● RESOLUTION ROAD
Altico Capfiles forownershipchange
Special Feature
Thisweek three of theworld’s most prominentcarmakers unveiled
theirelectric/electrified cars,includingVolkswagenID.3, NissanAriya
electric,andMaserati Ghibli hybrid■Motobahn, P13
And the carworld is finallygoing electric…
IN THE NEWSForex reserveshit record highINDIA'S
FOREXRESERVESroseby$3.1billion as onJuly10 compared to
theweekbefore to hit a recordhighof$516.36billion, according tothe
latest dataput out by theRBI, reports fe Bureau inMumbai. Foreign
currencyassets, a key component ofreserves, roseby$2.372billion to
$475.635billion.
Fraudulent IGSTclaimsof`1,875 crASMANYAS 1,377 export-ers have
fraudulently claim-ed IGST refund amountingto `1,875 crore, sources
inthe indirect tax departmentsaid, reports fe Bureau inNewDelhi.
They added thatthere are at least 10 ‘starexporters’ among thesewho
have illegally availed of`28.9 crore in refunds.“These exporters
have beenfound untraceable at theirprinciple place of business,”a
tax official said.
Yes Bank FPOsubscribed 95%YES BANKHASmanaged toraise `14,267
crore throughits follow-on public offer,implying 95% subscriptionof
the issue size of `15,000crore, reports fe Bureau inMumbai. The
issue hasachieved its minimumrequired subscription of90% of its
total size to sailthrough, the lender said.
Regulator free toconduct inquiry butcan’t block tariff plan
RURALJOB SCHEME
SURYASARATHI RAYNew Delhi, July 17
ASTHE CENTRE fast-trackedreleaseoffundsundertheruraljobs scheme
to provide timelyincomesupporttothepeopleinvillages, including
migrantworkers who have returnedfrom cities in large
numbers,manycash-strappedstateshaveused the funds to employ
thebeneficiariesinworksinvolvinglesseruse
ofmaterials,accord-ingtodatagatheredbyFE.In normal times, of
every
`10 spent underMG-NREGS,`6-7 goes to the workers aswages and the
balance `3-4 isused for purchase of buildingmaterials.However,
thewage-materialsratiohasturnedouttobe skewedmuchmore
towardsthewagessideinthecurrentfis-cal; in a number of states,
theratio has become8:2 orhigherandsomestates likeAssamandHaryana
have used 95% ormoreof the scheme’s funds forpaymentofwages.An
obvious fallout of the
states’strategy is that theMG-NREGSworkcarriedoutduringtheCovid
periodmaynot havecreated much durable
assets,butaccordingtoobservers,sincethe
expediencydemandeduseofthefundsforwagepayments,the states cannotbe
faulted foradopting the line. The
highershareofspendingonwagesalso
shows the poor health of thestate finances; under the
rules,theyhave to beara third of theexpenditure on material
andskilled labour,while
theCentrebearstheentirecostofwagesfortheunskilledlabour.
ContinuedonPage2
CHANGE OFGUARD
COVIDVACCINE
Higher open accesscharges to doublesolar/wind powercost to
largeconsumers
QuickPicks
Reply to USTR: India defends‘Google tax’, rollback unlikely
INDIAHAS opposed a US probe into its digitalservices tax, firmly
asserting that its equalisationlevy, or the so-called 'Google tax',
is "non-discriminatory", reports fe Bureau inNewDelhi.
In its reply to the office of the USTrade Representative,
NewDelhi added that it has only prospective application anddoesn't
specifically targetAmerican companies. PAGE 2
I-T refunds of `71,229 croreissued to 21.24 lakh taxpayers
THECENTRALBoard ofDirectTaxes has issuedrefundsworth `71,229
crore inmore than 21.24lakh cases duringApril 8-July 11, reports fe
BureauinNewDelhi. “Income-tax refunds amounting
to `24,603 crore havebeen issued in 19.79 lakh cases totaxpayers
and corporate tax refunds amounting to `46,626crore in 1.45 lakh
cases duringCovid,” the government said.
NATION, P12INSURANCE MEASURE
INTERNATIONAL, P8
SENSEX: 37,020.14 ▲ 548.46 NIFTY: 10,901.70 ▲ 161.75 NIKKEI 225:
22,696.42 ▼ 73.94 HANG SENG: 25,089.17 ▲ 118.48 `/$: 75.02 ▲ 0.17
`/€: 85.51 ▲ 0.26 BRENT: $43.04 ▼ $0.33 GOLD: `48,844 ▼ `233
NEW DELHI, SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020
India in talks to storecrude in US strategicpetroleum
reserves
IT’SADEAL
Apple to gain a newChinese iPhonemakerduring a tradewar
OPINION, P6RAJARSHI GHOSH EDITORIAL
Makebasic incomesupport part cash,parttied-spendingvoucher
Covidvaccine talk needscautious optimism,many uncertainties
stillneed to be resolved
VOL. XLVI NO. 119, 18 PAGES, `10.00 (PATNA `9.00, RAIPUR `10.00)
PUBL I SHED FROM : AHMEDABAD, B ENGALURU , CHAND IGARH , CHENNA I ,
HYDERABAD, KOCH I , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBA I , N EW DELH I ,
PUNE
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LENDERSWORRIED
SHRITAMABOSEMumbai, July 17
THE BOUNCE RATE on auto-debit transactions on theNational
Automated ClearingHouse (NACH) platform shotup to 45% in June
against thesix-month range of 31-38%.The value of the
transactionsthat ‘bounced’ was
`26,850croreor38%ofthetotalman-dates, data released by theNational
Payments Corpora-tion of India (NPCI) shows.Most of these
transactions
areEMIpayments,insurancepre-miumdebitsorSIPmandates.Industry
players attribute
the jump in the bounce rate toborrowers’ reduced ability to
make repayments, elongatedcash-flow cycles, an
increasedpropensity to save and confu-sion regarding the
availabilityoftheloanmoratorium.Bethatas itmay, the surge in
bouncerates is cause for concern asbounces are typically co-related
to slippages or loansturningbad.AseemDhru,MDandCEO,
SBFC Finance, told FE thebounce rates had been risingeven before
the emergence ofCovid-19, but what the
newdatasuggests—thatnearlyonein two requests are being
dis-honouredforwantofsufficientfunds—iscauseforworry.
ContinuedonPage2
SUMITKHANNAAhmedabad, July 17
ZYDUSCADILAPLANStocom-plete late-stage trials for itsnovel
coronavirusvaccine can-didate by February or Marchand could produce
up to 100milliondosesayearinitiallyifitis successful, the
companychairmansaidonFriday.Cadila’s vaccine candidate,
known as ZyCov-D, is one ofdozens being developedaround theworld
to fight thecoronaviruspandemic.“We are looking at about
seven or a little more than
sevenmonths for the
vaccine,providedthedataisencourag-ingandthevaccineisproventobe
effective during the trials,”
chairman Pankaj Patel toldReuters inan interview.
ContinuedonPage2
Material benefit■ So far this fiscal, stateshave released
`39,230 crunder MG-NREGS; this isroughly 60% of amountspent in the
whole of FY20
■ The Centre’s budget forrural jobs scheme this yearis `1,01,500
cr, up 50%over FY20 outlay
MG-NREGS expenses till July 17this year (% total)
MaterialsWages
96
94.8
88.6
83.3
79.5
77
73.7
3.7
3.2
10.3
13.5
17.8
20
24.8
Assam
Haryana
Odisha
Maharashtra
Chhattisgarh
Gujarat
Punjab
(Balance amounts spent foradministrative/logistical
expenses)Source: Rural development ministry
Fury ofpandemic provides context forrebirth and reformof the UN:
ModiTHEFURYOF theCovid-19pandemicprovidesthecon-text for the
“rebirth andreform” of the UnitedNations, Prime
MinisterNarendraModi said on Fri-day,reportsPTI.Addressing the
high-
level segment of the UNEconomic and Social Coun-cilsession via a
video link,Modisaidthe75thAnniver-sary of the founding of theUN is
an opportunity toassess its roleandrelevancein today’sworld.
PAGE2
Bounce rates onauto-debits shootup to 45% in June
MARCH2016Andhrapower regulatorfixes
renewableenergytariffat`4.84/unit,PPAsigned
DEC2017Lowest renewabletariffof`2.43/unitdiscovered
forwindproject inGujarat
JULY2019NewstategovernmentunderYSJaganmohanReddyformspanel
toreviewwind/solarPPAs
SEPT2019AmravatiHCtellsstatetopayplantslower
interimtariffof`2.43/unit
NOV2019Statestarts
tighteningrenewableenergynorms,withdrawsearlier incentives
APR2020Stateholds
renewableenergypaymentscitingcoronavirusforcemajeure
Whoseundoing?
Andhra solar units face`5k-cr under-recovery
NRI asked to pay tax on Swiss bank account she denies owning
Cadila aims to complete trial byMarch
ILLUSTRATION:ROHNITPHORE
Traicouldnotestablishwhysuspensionofplan
wasrequiredtoconducttheexaminationoftariff
Traicouldnotestablish thatVodafone Ideahad
violatedanyoftheexistingtariffdirectives
SinceVodafoneIdeahaschangedthe
plan fromhigherspeedtopriority4Gnetwork,the issueofspeed
isnotthereanymore
WhyTDSATstayedTrai'sdirective
TDSAT sets asideTrai order onVodafone Idea
Cash-strapped statescutmaterials spendto boost relief to
poorPRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, July 17
THE COUNTRY'S RICHESTwomanRoshniNadarMalho-tra onFridaybecame
the firstwoman to head a listedIndian IT company as shetook over as
the chairpersonof$8.9-billionHCLTechnolo-gies from her father and
bil-lionaire ShivNadar.
Roshni,alsoatrainedclas-sical musician, came on theboard of
HCLTechnologies in2013 andwas the vice chair-person. She will
continue asCEO of HCL Corporation, theholding company for all
thegroupentities.ShivNadar,however,would
continue to be themanaging
director of the companywithdesignationasachiefStrategyofficer,
the company said in astatement.HCL Technologies CEO
C Vijayakumar said this waspart of the company’s
succes-sionplanningexercise.
ContinuedonPage2
ShivNadar andRoshniNadarMalhotra
ShivNadar steps down,Roshni newHCLchief
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Volume (m) Value (` cr) Volume (m) Value (` cr) (In %)2020
77.73
78.93
79.13
66.71
64.00
78.89
73,316
73,277
75,952
55,805
50,767
70,492
18,212
18,264
20,929
20,454
15,367
26,850
24.13
24.83
26.75
25.34
23.29
35.79
Data for recurring debit transactions on NACH Source: NPCI
Presentation Returns Bounce rate
31.0
31.5
33.8
38.0
36.4
45.4
ALLGUNS BLAZINGDefenceminister Rajnath Singh poses for a
photowith troopswho took part in paradropping and othermilitary
exercises, in Leh, Ladakh, on Friday
New Delhi
-
EconomySATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020
FINANCIALEXPRESS2
● REPLYTO USTR
FE BUREAUNewDelhi, July 17
INDIA HAS OPPOSED a USprobe into its digital servicestax, firmly
asserting that itsequalisation levy, or the so-called‘Google
tax’,is“non-dis-criminatory”,hasonlyprospec-tive application and
doesn’tspecifically target Americancompanies. New Delhi’sstaunch
defence of the levysuggests it’s unlikely to roll
itbackanytimesoon.In its reply to the the office
oftheUSTradeRepresentative(USTR),whichhaslaunchedtheinvestigation
into the digitalservices tax of India and nineothers, including the
EU andthe UK, New Delhi says: “Farfrom targeting any US com-pany or
companies, the pur-pose of the equalisation levy isto
ensuregreatercompetitive-ness, fairness, reasonablenessandexercise
the abilityof gov-ernments to tax
businessesthathaveaclosenexuswiththeIndian market through
theirdigital operations.” The
levycan’tbesaidtohave“extra-ter-ritorial”application,it says.As
reportedbyFEon June3
onIndia’slikelyreply,NewDelhihasalsohighlightedthatthelevyiswellwithinits“commitmentsunder
the WTO and interna-tional taxation
agreements”.However,NewDelhi“iswillingto
engageinfurtherdiscussionstoclarifyanyquestionsorconcernsthat
the governmentof theUSmayhave”,itsays.Announcing its decision
to
launch the investigation inJune,theofficeoftheUSTRhadsaid
NewDelhi slapped a 2%DST (digital services tax)
fromApril1.“Thetaxappliesonlytonon-resident companies, andcovers
online sales of goodsand services, or aimed at,per-sons in
India.The tax appliesonlytocompanieswithannualrevenues in excess of
approxi-mately `20million (approxi-mately$2,67,000),”it
said.Stressingthatthelevydoes
not discriminate against non-resident e-commerce opera-tors,
India says: “The underly-ing policy objective
andapplicationofIndia’sequalisa-tionlevy,is toensurethatneu-tral
and equitable taxation isapplicable to e-commerceoperators that are
resident inIndia or have a physical
pres-enceinIndiaandthosethatarenot resident in India.” “Thepurpose
is to ensure a level-playing fieldwith regard to e-commerce
activities under-taken in India.This, in fact, isthe very
antithesis of theunderlying apprehensionslisted out in the USTR’s
S.301DSTInitiation.”New Delhi says it “notes
with regret” the initiation oftheprobe,launchedunder the
Section301oftheTradeActof1974. This law authorisesauthorities to
initiate action,including punitive tariffs,
inresponsetoaforeigncountry’sactionthatisdeemedunfairordiscriminatory
and curbsAmerican trade.The latest impost was
introduced in the
FinanceAct2020bywideningthescopeoftheequalisationlevytoincludee-commerceplayersandinter-mediaries.
It’s a sort of digitaltax on non-resident e-com-merce operators at
2%on therevenuetheygenerateinIndiafrom e-commerce supply
orservices. This levy has to bedeposited by the e-commerceoperator
and not by the buyerof
thegoodsorservice.Earlier,theequalisationlevy
(at6%)wasintroducedin2016and slapped on the
revenuesgeneratedonbusiness-to-busi-nessdigitaladvertisementsandallied
services of the residentservice provider. The levy isdesigned to
nullify the advan-tage of foreign e-commercefirms sans a physical
presenceinIndiaoverlocal competitors.The 2016 levy had
impactedcompanies like Google andFacebook,amongothers.While the
precise scope of
the 2% levy is still beingdebated, some analysts
havesaidanIndianresidentpurchas-inggoodsfromtheAmazon(US)orAlibabaorevenatransactionbetween
the Amazon US andAmazonIndia,too,couldtriggerthis levy,as the
latterwould betreatedasaresident.NewDelhi says the concept
oftheequalisationlevyinIndiaemergedasaresultofthedelib-erations
of theOECDBaseEro-sion & Profit Shifting
(BEPS)Project,whichcrystallizedintheReportonAction1ofBEPSPro-
ject.ThisreportwasacceptedbyIndiaandothermembersoftheOECD,
thereby representing abroad consensus view on
theissuesdiscussedinthereport.Itformedthebasisofthedetailedconsultations
byaCommitteeon Taxation of E-Commerceconstituted by the Indian
gov-ernment,whichhadsubmitteditsreportinFebruary2016.Thiscommittee
analysed in detailthe BEPS report on Action
1,whichhadhighlightedtheneedformodifyingexistinginterna-tional
taxation rules, and
laidoutthreeoptionsfortheconsid-erationofcountries,that
is,(a)anewnexusbasedonsignificanteconomic presence, (b)
awith-holding tax ondigital
transac-tions,and(c)equalisationlevy.However,theBEPSreportdid
not recommend any specificoption,recognizing
thatmoreworkmayberequiredintheareaof
attributionofprofits.Never-theless,itnotedthat:“Countriescould,however,introduceanyofthese
three options in theirdomestic laws as additionalsafeguards against
BEPS,pro-vided they respect existingtreaty obligations, or in
theirbilateraltaxtreaties.”The Indian government
panelaccordinglyanalysedeachofthethreeoptionspresentedbythe BEPS
Report and recom-mended the application of theequalisation levy on
specifieddigitalservices.InastatementinJune,USTRRobertLighthizerhadsaid:“President(Donald)Trumpis
concerned thatmany of
ourtradingpartnersareadoptingtaxschemesdesignedtounfairlytar-getourcompanies.”ApartfromIndia,theothers
thatarebeing investigatedarethe EU, the
UK,Austria,Brazil,theCzechRepublic,Indonesia,Italy,SpainandTurkey.
‘Equalisationlevytargetsnon-Indiane-commercecompanies’RISHI
RANJAN KALANewDelhi, July 17
WASHINGTON-BASEDINFORMATION TechnologyIndustry Council
(ITI),whichrepresents tech firms likeGoogle, Microsoft,
Amazon,Facebook, Apple and SoftBank, has claimed that thedigital
services tax (DST)imposedby India targets only“non-Indian
e-commercecompanies”.In a detailed legal analysis
on DSTs submitted to theUnitedStatesTradeRepresen-tative (USTR),
the global techtrade association said that thetax imposed by India
has thewidest ramifications com-pared to the nine other coun-tries
as it applies to sale of allgoods or services by
digitalbusinessestopersonsusinganIndian IPaddress.“Unlike
otherDSTs, India’s
newtaxapplieswithrespecttoonline sale of both goods andservices
and it solely targetsnon-Indian e-commercecompanies,” ITI’s senior
direc-tor (policy, trade & tax) SamRizzo said in the legal
analysistoUSTRRobertLighthizer.The issue relates to US ini-
tiating investigation againstIndiaandnineothercountriesfor
imposing or consideringDSTs with potential to hurtAmerican firms.
Indiawidenedthescopeofequalisa-tion levy to
includee-commerceplayersandinter-mediaries. It’s a sort of
digitaltax on non-resident e-com-merce operators at 2%on
therevenuetheygenerate inIndiafrom e-commerce supplyorservices.This
levy has to be
deposited by the e-commerceoperator and not by the buyerof
thegoodsorservice.
Says the purposeof levy is to ensureneutral andequitable
taxationis applicable toe-commerceoperators
From the Front Page
Auto-debit:Bounce rateson transactionsshoot up to45% in
June“EVENTHOUGHmostborrow-ersarepayingwhencashflowscomebackorthroughalterna-tive
arrangements,as a
lenderyouknowthatwhenbouncingstarts,slippingalwaysfollows,"Dhru
said. The degree of co-relationbetweenbounces andslippages varies
for differentlenders. "But by now, mostlenderswouldknowwhattheyare
looking at, whether theydisclose
itornot,"headded.Atopexecutivewitha large
public-sector bank said thebounce rates may have beenhigher
because ofmiscalcula-tions by customerswhile
pro-vidingstandinginstructionstotheir lenders
onautodebit.Yethedidnotruleoutthepossibil-ity of stretched
householdfinancesbeinga factor."Itmayalso be due to financial
stress,which customers could notplan,suchassalarydelaysorjobcuts.
Besides, there was
aschemeofchangeinthesecondlegofmoratoriumbybanks,"headded,
referring to the phe-nomenon of some
lendersswitchingtotheopt-inmodeofoffering
themoratoriumfromtheopt-outmodeearlier.Several banks and non-
bank lenders have said thattheyhave seenadecline in theshare of
customers availing ofthemoratorium in its secondleg, starting June.
There is aviewthatbyJune,somelendersmay have failed to convey
totheir borrowers that theiraccount is no more undermoratorium.As a
result,debitrequestsmayhave
beenmadetoborrowerswhowerenotpre-paredwith sufficient funds
intheiraccounts.Thistiesinwiththe number of
auto-debitrequestsmadeinJune--nearly79million --which is close
tothepre-Covidlevelsandhigherthan the 64-68million
rangeseenduringApril andMay.While the bounce rate
ranges between 30-70%, fin-
techs, whose loans have asmaller ticket size, reportbounces
between 50% and70%. In themid-market andmass-affluent
segments,which have a relatively higherticket size, the incidence
ofbounces is lower— anywherebetween30-45%.Abhishek Agarwal, co-
founder & CEO,
CreditVidya,saidthatthebounceratesareanindicationofborrowers'reducedability
topayand loan losses intheretailsegmentaresettorisemassively
fromtheirpre-Covidlevels."Withthesecondwaveoflockdownscomingin,Iamfairlyconfident
that prior toCovid ifwe were estimating x% loss,nowwe could see two
to threetimesthat,"hesaid.This could pan out by the
December quarter as tillAugust 31, the asset qualitypain will be
masked by themoratorium, Agarwal said.Thereafter, accounts
whichremain indefault through thethreemonthstoNovemberwillhave to
be classified as non-performing, unless there is afresh
dispensation from theReserveBankof India.The increased incidence
of
bouncingitselfhasimplicationsfor recoverability.Till
twoyearsago, bounce rates stood ataround 18-19%. Since thebeginning
of 2020, they havecomeinhigherthan31%everymonth.The current
collectioninfrastructurethatmostlendershave is geared for an
around18%bouncerate.Ifover40%ofalendinginstitution'sloanbookwere to
continue seeingdelaysin payments, itwoulddent theefficiency of
recovery agentsand the collection infrastruc-ture. "The more the
value ofbounces,themoretheslippages.They don't increase in
arith-metic proportion, but in aslightly geometrical
propor-tion,"Dhrusaid.
Covid vaccine:Cadila aims tocomplete trialbyMarch"WE ARE ALSO
open to dis-cussing partnerships with
pharma companies in variousgeographies,but it is a bit
pre-mature right now,andwewillbedoingsoat
theendofPhase1and2trials,"he said.Early-stage Phase 1 and 2
human trials are likely to beconcluded in the next
threemonths,he said.—REUTERS .
Rural jobscheme: Statescutmaterialsspend to boostrelief to
poorIN LABOUR-SUPPLIER statessuch as Bihar,
ChhattisgarhandUttarPradesh,wageshaveconstituted 57.28%,79.47%and
67.71%, respectively, ofthe total spending under
thepopularschemesofarthisyear.In Telengana, the
percentagestoodat88%now.However,inKerala, which is a
labour-absorbing state,wages consti-tute just 58% of the
totalamountspent."It seems that most of the
works created under MG-NREGShavebeenofnon-assetcreating variety.
The schemehas been liberally used by
thestategovernmentsasanalter-native to direct benefit trans-fer
(DBT) to provide a kind ofsocial security to the rural
poor," said labour economistandXLRI professor KR ShyamSundar.
"ThehigherthespendonMG-NREGS, the lesserwillbe
reversemigration.Itmeansurban employment is
shrink-ing.Itisalsoanindicatorof
theslackeningoftheurbanlabourmarket,"headded.
Resolutionroad:Altico Capfiles forownershipchangeFE HAS also
learned that RBIhas advised a leading privatebank to pay back `210
croreto the UAE-headquarteredMashreq Bank in the
matterrelatedtoAlticoCapital.Alticohad complained to the RBIthat
theprivatebankhadvio-lated regulations by debitingfunds
intendedforrepaymenttoMashreqBank.Thesaidpri-vatebanknettedoff
the`210crore held by Altico in thebank's fixed deposits
againstoutstandingtermloanswhichtherealestate financingcom-pany
owed to the lender.Theprivate bank acted as a pri-mary dealer
forAltico Capitalin an external
commercialborrowingdealwithMashreqBank,aspersources.The`210
crore received as part of thatfinancing deal was held
withprivate lender in the formofafixeddeposit.Altico Capital was
faced
with a liquidity crunch in2019. It defaulted on a `19-crore
external commercialborrowing (ECB) repaymentto Mashreq Bank in
Septem-ber 2019,which led to a fewlenders recalling
loans.Later,lenders formed a committeeto execute a resolution
planunder the RBI's June 7 circu-lar by signing an inter-credi-tor
agreement (ICA). AlticoCapital owed over `4,300crore to 27 lenders
led byState Bank of India, Bank ofBaroda,UTIMF and RelianceMF,among
others.
TDSAT sets asideTrai order onVodafone IdeaAccording to legal
experts theinterim stay granted toVoda-fone Idea's planwill not
applyto Bharti Airtel, which alsocame out with a similar planwhich
was stopped by Trai.Bharti Airtel, which did notmoveTDSATagainst
theregu-lator'sdirective,needstodothesametoget
similarrelief."Thereisnolackofpowerin
the Authority to review andmodifyatariffforanytelecom-
munication service from timeto time. The objection of
theappellant is against keepingthereviewproceedingpendingandstill
issuingamodificationas an interim
arrangementwithoutevenaprimafaciesat-isfactionthattheAuthorityhasfound
a case of non-compli-ance of any of the
directivesissuedearlier,"TDSATsaid.Thetribunalsaid,"Thedirec-
tionforsuspensionoftheRedXplan which,
understandably,wouldapplyonlytotheexistingrevised plan, lacks even
primafaciereasons.Theonlyjustifica-tion that suspension
wouldfacilitatedetailedexaminationbyTrai is found to bedevoid
ofanymerits.Duringsubmissionsalso
ithasnotbeenshownthatfordetailedexaminationbyTraiit
isnecessarytowithhold/sus-pend theVodafoneRedXofferforthwith"
NRI asked topay tax onSwiss bankaccount shedenies owningTHE
TRIBUNAL ALSO notedthat the Swiss account wasclosed soonafter the
informa-tion of account holdersreached the government
ofIndia.Theassetsoftheaccountwere transferred to a
CaymanIsland-basedinvestmentcom-pany in-charge of running
thefamily.However,thiscompanywasalso liquidatedandstruckoff from
the records, the tri-bunal observed. "..if Caymanislands is known
for anythingrelevant, it is known for anatmosphere conducive
tohid-ing unaccounted wealth andmoney laundering," the
ITATobserved.While the trust stood ter-
minated and nothing wasknown about it, the assesseeclaimed that
she was only abeneficiary of the Trust buthad no information how
thecompany running the Trustcame to acquire nearly $4crore."It is
also inconceivablethat a `200-crore beneficiaryin a trustwill not
knowabout
whohassettledthattrust.Sim-ilarly,while dealingwith Cay-man
Island entities, living indenialaboutbeneficialowner-ships, and
confining to legalownerships, is preposterous,"the
tribunalordersaid.Further, the tribunal said
that theaccount informationin HSBC clearly showed thatthe
assessee was a beneficialowner. Moreover, it
arguedthatnoreasonablepersoncanaccept the explanation of
theassessee as she is not a publicpersonality like MotherTeresa
that some unknownperson will settle a trust togive her$4 crore.The
HSBC account infor-
mationwasreceivedbyseveralgovernments,includingIndia,the US, the
UK, Canada andAustralia, after a whistle-blower, an employee of
HSBCPrivate Bank (Suisse) SA,Geneva,walkedoutwithinfor-mation on
thousands ofaccounts in 2006, involvingwealthhiddenfromtaxmen.Ved
Jain, counsel for Tha-
rani, iterated that since theassessee is admittedlya
non-resident and in as much asthe impugned assessmentwasmade
accordingly, itwasnot all required of her to dis-close her foreign
bankaccounts, even if any. Speak-ing to FE, he expressed
con-fidence that the ITAT orderwill be overruled by the highcourt,
the next forum ofappeal. An NRI is notrequired to prove source
ofincome arising outside ofIndia to the Indian taxauthorities, Jain
noted.
"This decision reinforcesan important principle thatconduct of
the taxpayer andcooperationwith the author-ities, seen with overall
cir-cumstances play an impor-tant role in
appellateauthorities/courts decidingany issue. In cases
involvingdeposits in Swiss Bankaccount orTaxhaven compa-nies,where
the general per-ception is alreadyagainst thetaxpayerof having
anyunde-clared income,it is importanttodemonstrate fromconductof
the taxpayers that neces-sarycooperation ismade and
all the facts are properly dis-closed to the
authorities,"Shailesh Kumar, partner atNangia&Co LLP,said.He
added that the tribunal
hasalsoclarifiedthatthisjudg-menthasnot laiddownaprin-ciple
thatwhenevername of ataxpayerappears inan incrim-inatingmaterial
(suchasHSBCleaks),itdoesnotautomaticallymeans that the taxpayer
hasunaccounted or illegalmoney.Itisonlytheconductofthetax-payer,
facts and surroundingcircumstances of each case,based on which a
decisionwouldneedtobetaken.
Govt plansauction of 5-6mineral
blocksTHEGOVERNMENTplanstoauctionfivetosixmineralblocks,includingironoreandbauxitemines,inMadhyaPradeshoverthenext
threemonths,accordingtoanofficial.Of
the11blocksthatwereputonsalebythestaterecently,thereweretakers
foronlyfiveblocksandsixminesreceivednointerest frombidders.
BIS:‘Knowyourproduct’initiativetohelpMSMEsASANINITIATIVEtosupportandpromoteMicro,Small&MediumEnterprises
(MSMEs),BIScommencedseriesofprogrammesunder‘Knowyourproduct’to
facilitateunderstandingof
theIndianStandardsbeingfollowedbytheenterprises
foroperatingtheBIScertification(popularlyknownas
theISI-MarkScheme).
PSBssanction`19,668crloansto71MSMEhubsTHEFINANCEministryonFridaysaidpublic
sectorbankshavesanctioned`19,668.87crore to71MSMEhubsacross
thecountryunderthe`3-lakhcroreEmergencyCreditLineGuaranteeScheme(ECLGS).Disbursement
intheseclusters stoodat`12,871.50croreasofJuly15toentitiesbelonging
toMSMEsector,hithardbytheCovid-19crisis.
QuickView
WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
India defends‘Googletax’, rollbackunlikely
Andhra solar units face`5k-cr under-recoveryALTHOUGH THE AP
HighCourt had struck down thestate government order onrenegotiating
PPAs, it hadasked the state electricityregulator APERC to decideon
thematter and directedthe discoms to pay reducedprices in the
interimperiod.Renewable energy pro-
ducers believe that the statepower regulator and
theAmaravatiHighCourtwouldultimatelymandate payingfull tariff to
the state's dis-
coms,andclearingsuchhugepayment immediately willnot be possible
for the statecausing further delay inclearing the outstanding
bills. “We would thereforerequest that under the dis-com
liquiditypackage,thereshould be a separate carveout ofmoney to the
tune of`5,000croreforAPdiscoms,so that such amount can
beimmediately paid to renew-able energygenerators
oncethecourtordersareissuedonthesependingpetitions,"thenationalsolarenergyfedera-tion
of India said in a
recentletterwrittentoUnionpowerministerRKSingh.
❝❝ ❝❝
SAARC-COVID FUNDNarendra Modi, Prime Minister
...In our joint fight against Covid,we have extendedmedical and
other assistance to over 150countries.We also helped create a Saarc
Covidemergency fund in our neighbourhood.
Monsoon rainfall(June 1-July 17)
Kharif sowing*% Change (against year-ago)
(% change from LPA)
East/North-east
North-west
Central India
South peninsula
All India
11
14
17
8
-17
Source: IMDSource: agriculture ministry *As of July 17
18.6
32.4
40.7
12.2
17.3
0.9
21.2
Paddy
Pulses
Oilseeds
Coarse cereals
Cotton
Sugarcane
Total
Current cropKharif sowing up 21% y-o-yProgressive sowing under
all the kharif crops has covered65% of the season's normal area
till Friday.While paddyacreage is higher inmajor growing states
like UttarPradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Haryana,
TelanganaandAndhra Pradesh, it is down in Punjabwhile
plantingwillpick up inWest Bengal from June-end. The sowing
gapagainst the year-ago level has reduced thisweek, from thelevel
in previousweek in the case ofmost of the crops.
FE BUREAU
FORMERHCLTechnolo-gies CEO Vineet Nayarsaid: “I am sure
HCLwillfly high under Roshniwho leadswith
purpose,passionandpride.Excit-ing timesahead”.Roshni married
ShikharMalhotra,vice-chairmanofHCLHealth-care, in 2010, and
thecouple has two sons --Armaanand Jahaan.According to the lat-
est Hurun Rich List,Roshni is India's
richestwomanwithanetworthof `36,800 crore. In2019, she ranked
54thon the Forbes World's100 Most PowerfulWomen list.
HCL’s newchief is firstwoman tolead listedITcompanyin India
PRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewYork, July 17
ASSERTING THAT ONLYreformedmultilateralism canmeet the
aspirations ofhumanity, Prime MinisterNarendra
ModionFridaysaidtheUnited Nationswas originallyborn from thefuries
of the Sec-ond World Warand the fury ofthe Covid-19pandemic
pro-vides the contextfor its“rebirthandreform.”Addressing the
high-level
segment of the UN Economicand Social Council (ECOSOC)session via
a video link,Modisaid the 75th Anniversary ofthe founding of the UN
is anopportunity to assess its role
andrelevanceintoday'sworld.Noting that a lot has
changedsinceitsformation,hesaid the UN now bringstogether 193
member coun-tries and alongwith
itsmem-bership,theexpectationsfrom
the organisationhavealsogrown.At the same
time,multilateral-ismisfacingmanychallenges,he saidin the
address —hisfirstsinceIndiawas overwhelm-ingly elected as
anon-permanent
memberof the powerful Secu-rityCouncil
lastmonth.“Indiafirmlybelieves that thepath toachieve sustainable
peace andprosperity is
throughmultilat-eralism...However,multilateral-ismneedstorepresentthereal-ityofthecontemporaryworld.”
Pandemic furyprovidescontext forUN reform:Modi
“Only reformedmultilateralismwith a reformedUnited Nations atits
centre canmeetthe aspirations of
humanity.”
New Delhi
-
ECONOMY 3FINANCIALEXPRESSWWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JULY
18, 2020
FY21 capex targetwillbemet, says RailwaysFE BUREAUNewDelhi, July
17
THERAILWAYSISconfidentofmeeting the `1.6 lakh crorecapital
expenditure target for2020-21,RailwayBoardchair-manVKYadav said on
Friday.The transporterwill expeditemodernisation processthrough
private train opera-tions and envisage invest-ments,including
fromthepri-vatesector,tothetuneof`30.6lakh crore over the next
fiveyearsonpepupinfrastructure.The Railways managed to
achieve 90% of the FY20capex goal of `1.6 lakh
crore.Notwithstanding the sub-dued economic activity andinvestor
sentiments,Yadav isoptimistic of “significantlyimproving on the
last year’sperformance”.The Railways intends to
spendon infrastructure devel-opmentwith a strong focus
onimplementationof supercriti-cal
projects.Currently,theRail-waysfacechallengeofover-con-
gested networkswith 96%
oftrafficmovingonaround51%routekmofRailwaysnetwork.These are
projects requir-
ing urgent expansion basedon traffic density, type ofcommodity
moved, impor-tance of route from strategicconsiderations, among
oth-ers. Railways have identified58 super critical projects for
completion by December2021. Despite challengesposed by Covid
outbreak, theRailways have completed 16of these projects of 592
kmlength costing `6,258 croreup to March 2020 and arelooking to
complete 43moreprojects of 1,587 km with acost of `8,500 crore by
thesame timeline.
'Railwaysgenerated1.6 lakhmandaysofwork in 4weeks’THE RAILWAYS
has spentmore than`608 crore andgen-eratedoverone lakhmandaysofwork
in rural areasunderthe Garib Kalyan RojgarAbhiyaan in just
fourweeks of itslaunch,a seniorofficial of thenational transporter
saidonFriday. Inaugurated byPrimeMinisterNarendraModi
onJune20,theGaribKalyanRojgarAbhiyaanisinoperationin116identifieddistrictsofsixstates—UttarPradesh,Bihar,Rajasthan,MadhyaPradesh,OdishaandJharkhand.“Inthelast
fourweeks,wehave
alreadygenerated1,61,251man-daysandspent`608.87crore.Thisisveryencouragingandwewill
continuetosupport
thework,RailwayBoardchair-manVKYadavtoldanonlinepressbriefing.
—PTI
1,377 exporters fraudulently claimedIGSTrefund amounting
to`1,875 crFE BUREAUNewDelhi, July 17
AS MANYAS 1,377 exportershavefraudulentlyclaimedIGSTrefund
amounting to `1,875crore,sourcesintheindirecttaxdepartment said.
They addedthat there are at least 10 ‘starexporters’ among these
whohave illegally availed of `28.9croreinrefunds.“These exporters
havebeen
founduntraceableattheirprin-ciple place of business,” a
taxofficial said. StarExportHouseexporters are certified by
thegovernment on the basis ofexport performance
(`15croreto`5,000croreFOB in
thecur-rentandthreeprecedingyears).Theyare extended
certainben-efits including customs clear-ance on
self-certificationbasis
andexemptionfromfurnishingbank guarantee under certainschemes.
Sources said that7,516 exporters have beenputon the‘risky’exporter
list as ondate. Out of these, 2,830exporters are being
currentlydenied IGSTrefund
anddraw-backfacilityworth`1,363crore.Further, adverse reports
havebeen received in respect of2,197riskyexporters.Exporters are
identified as
‘risky’onthebasisofspecificriskindicators based on
Customs,GST,IncomeTaxandDGFTdata.TheidentifiedriskyexportersaresharedwiththeCGSTformations
forphysicalandfinancialverifi-cation in termsof the
standardoperatingprocedure (SOP)
laiddownbytheGSTpolicywing.Further,afterreceivingposi-
tive reports from field forma-tions on 695 exporters,
theDirectorateGeneral ofAnalysisand Risk Management(DGARM), in its
supply chainanalysis, found that their sup-pliers had availed
ineligiblecredit. In 461 of these cases,IGST refund and
drawbackamounting to `273 crore
isundersuspension,sourcessaid.Earlier in theyear, the gov-
ernment had found that insomeinstancesanexporterwithover `50
crore of exports ofreadymadegarmentshastakenrefund of `3.9
crorewhile theentity’s total GST payment incashwasamere`1,650.
Tomarasks farmers to registerunderPMFBYbefore last
datePRESSTRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, July 17
AGRICULTURE MINISTERNARENDRA Singh Tomar onFriday asked farmers
to come
forward to register under thecropinsuranceschemePMFBYbefore the
last date and get aprotectionagainstkharif2020crop loss due to
unforeseennatural calamities.
Tomarsaid the enrolmentof farmers under the Prad-han Mantri
Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) for theongo-ing Kharif-2020 season isgoing
on in full swing across
the country and urged morefarmers to take benefit ofthe
scheme.The cut-off date for the
ongoing Kharif 2020 seasonin fewstates andunion terri-
tories may end by July 31,2020. The Centre has madeenrolment
free for all thefarmerswhoonlyneed topaya premium amount now,he
added.
There are at least 10 ‘starexporters’ among thesewho have
illegally availedof `28.9 crore in refunds
New Delhi
-
SAJAN C KUMARChennai, July 17
BUOYEDBYTHEencouragingdemandforitsvehicles,SouthKoreancarmajorHyundaihasstartedaddingtoitsworkforcetorampupproductionatitsIndiafacility.Thecompany,whichhasamanufactur-
ingplantinChennai,islookingtohireabout1,600 to 1,800 apprentice
to meet thedemandsofexistingaswellas
futureprod-ucts,becomingoneofthefewcompaniestogo for recruitment in
the times of Covid-triggeredeconomicadversities.A Hyundai Motor
India (HMIL)
spokespersontoldFEthatthecompanylastweek started theprocess
tohire people foritsIrungattukottaiplants.Theselectedoneswill be
undergoing training at classroomsandonthe
job.Accordingtothespokesper-son, the company usually hires
around3,000apprentice,but because of the lock-down,a large
sectionof themwentback totheir hometowns. Though the companycould
bring some of them back when itresumed operations by deploying
trans-portation,somestillhavenotresumedwork.
“To fill that gap andmeet the demand forworkers
forourupcomingproduct
portfo-lio,weneedmorepeopleandsotherecruit-ment,”thespokespersonadded.Hyundaihadnotlaidoffstafforresorted
to salary cuts as the company is
steadilyrampingupproductionbothforexportsanddomestic sales.On the
contrary,it recentlyannouncedpromotions for its
technicians(theblue-collarworkmenintheshopfloors).It is also in
theprocess of
firmingupplansforthejunior,middleandsenior-levelexec-
utivecadres.Hyundai recently said as demand has
beenpickingupinIndiaforitsvehicles,it
isplanningtostartathirdshiftat
itsChennaiplant.Thecompanysaidithasclocked75%salesinJune2020againstJune2019andbythe
endof July, it is hoping to clock
almost90%sales.HMILdirector-sales,marketingandser-
viceTarunGarg said the consumer senti-ment has improvedwith
reopeningof thesales network.With demand for various
models, especially the recently
launchednewCretawhichreceivedover45,000book-ingssinceitlaunch,thecompanyiswitness-ingpositivesignsintheindustry.Gargalso
said the localisation levels are
veryhigh and the dependence on
compo-nentsfromChinaisverylow.Thecompany'ssupplychain is
readytomeet
thedemandforincreasedcomponentsasthethird-shiftproductionisgoingtostartsoon.Stressing
that theCovid-19pandemic
has not impacted plans of the company'supcoming launches,Garg
said in the lastsevenmonths,HMIL launched fourprod-ucts—Aura,a
sub-compact sedan in Janu-ary,newCreta inMarch,newVerna inMay,and
nowTuscon,which is priced around`22.30lakhpan-India.Garg
furthersaid the industryhasbeen
showing resilience and
theonlyworrywasthatthefreshlockdownannouncedbysev-eralstategovernments
inthelastoneweekmayimpactdemandmarginally.Hesaidthedemand is from
across the geography,including tier-II and IIImarkets andas
farsegment.There aredemand forentry-levelhatchbacks,as
peoplenowpreferpersonal
IKEA India closesoutlet in HyderabadtemporarilyIKEA INDIA (PART
of the IngkaGroup)will be temporarily closing itsoutlet here from
Saturday to imple-ment additional safetymeasures inview of the
current Covid-19 pan-demic, the Swedish furniture makersaid
onFriday.
HathwayCableQ1netprofitat`66croreHATHWAYCABLE&DatacomonFridayreportedaconsolidatednetprofitof`66.06crore
forthe firstquarterended June30.The firmhadpostedanet
lossof`9.38crore inApril-Juneayearago,HathwayCablesaid inaBSE
filing.
BawaisSAPpresident&MD,IndiansubcontinentTECHMAJORSAPonFridaysaid
ithas appointedKulmeetBawaaspresident
andMDforSAPIndiansubcontinent,effective July20.
Olaconvertsfumigationcentres intosafetyzonesCABAGGREGATOROLA
hasconverted its fumigationcentres intosafetyzones tohelpdrivers
takecareofall the safetyprerequisites fortheirridesamid
theCovid-19pandemic.Thecompanyhasannounced`500crorecommitment
towardsvarioussafetyinitiatives,andplans to
setupover500fumigationcentresacrossthecountryunderits'RideSafe
India'initiative inviewof thepandemic,thecompanysaid.
OrientElectricentershygieneproductsbizCKBIRLAGROUPOrientElectrichasannounceditsentryintothehygieneproductssegmentwiththe
launchofUVSanitech,abox-shapedsanitisationchamberthatusesultraviolet
light
tokillvirusesincludingcoronavirusonthesurfacesofeverydayobjectsandgroceries.
It ismanufacturingthesanitisationboxin-houseat
itsFaridabadplantandplansto introducemoreproducts
inthiscategoryinthenearfuture.
McDonald’s
introducestake-outservice‘OntheGo’MCDONALD’SRESTAURANTSHASintroduced‘OntheGo’take-outserviceontheirMcDeliveryappthatenablescontactlessorderingandcollectionoftheorderfromyourvehicle.
PayUpartnersShiprocketSocial,QuickeSellingPAYUHASPARTNEREDwithe-commerceplatforms,ShiprocketSocialandQuickeSellingtoenabletheirover15,000merchants
todigitise transactions.Merchantpartners will alsobeable
toavailotherinfrastructural supportofferedbyPayU.This
includesfeaturessuchassame-daysettlements tomanagecashflows,accept
internationalpayments.
GaanatiesupwithpodcasthostingmajorLibsynMUSICSTREAMINGAPPGaanaonFridaysaid
ithaspartneredwithglobalpodcasthostingmajor,LiberatedSyndicationforcontentsharing.GaanaCEOPrashanAgarwalsaid,"AtGaana,wehavebeeninvestingsteadilyinthisspacewithourPodcastOriginalsandhavenowtakenitupanotchwithourpartnershipwithLibsynthatwouldengageouraudiencewithworld-classpodcastingcontent
fromaroundtheworld."
MPLtiesupwithCricketIreland,ITWConsultingESPORTSANDMOBILEgamingplatformMobile
PremierLeaguehaspartneredwithCricket Ireland andITWConsulting to
sponsor the IrishMen's team jerseys for theupcomingOne-Day
International Seriesagainst Englandbeginning July30.
QuickView
CompaniesFINANCIALEXPRESS4 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020
❝❝ ❝❝
COVID &COSTSVarun Berry, managing director, Britannia
Industries
The quarter posed an uphill task for the economy...On the cost
front, wewitnessedmoderate inflationin prices of key rawmaterials
and expect them tobe stable going forward, given the positive
outlookonmonsoon and harvest.
● SURGE IN DEMAND
Hyundai tohire1,800toboostproduction
FE BUREAUMumbai, July 17
KRAHEJACORP,theownerofsomeofthemarqueecommercialrealestatepropertieslikeMindspace,TheSquare,Commerzone,and
Inorbit mall,will be raising `4,500crore through REIT (Real Estate
Invest-mentTrust),anofferdocumentfiledbythecompany with Sebi
(Securities andExchangeBoardof India)onFridaystated.The REIT will
have 29.5 million sq ft ofcommercial space as part of the
portfoliospread
acrossMumbai,Pune,HyderabadandChennai.Theofferconsists of a fresh
issuanceof
up to `1,000 crore of units
byMindspaceREITandanofferforsaleofaggregatingupto`3,500 crore.The
proceeds of the issuewill be primarilyutilised forpartial or
fullpre-payment or scheduled repayment ofcertain debt facilities of
the asset SPVs
availed frombanks/financial institutionsincluding any accrued
interest and anyapplicablepenalties/premium.Of
the29.5millionsq.ft.of commercial
assets thatwill be part of theMindspaceREIT portfolio, 23
million sq ft are com-pleted and rent yielding, the area that
isunderconstruction is 2.8million sq ft
andfuturedevelopmentareawillbetothetuneof 3.6million sq ft.The
portfolio has five
integratedbusinessparksandfiveindepen-dentoffices,theofferdocumentstated.FE
reported on July17 thatMindspace
REITwill be raising `3,000-`4,000
crorethroughREITandwillbefilingtheofferdoc-umentwithSEBIwithinthisweek.MindspaceREITwillbethesecondpub-
licly tradedREITafterEmbassyandBlack-stone raisedover`4,700crore
throughanIPOinApril2019.
MindspaceREIT files offerdocument for IPO
FE BUREAUHyderabad, July 17
THE US FOOD andDrugAdministration(FDA) said that it will resume
itsonsite inspections of regulated facilitiesnext week after four
months ofsuspended activities because of
thenovelcoronaviruspandemic.TheFDAhadpreviouslyannouncedon
March 10 that routine domestic inspec-tionswould be put on hold
to protect thehealth of its inspectors. The regulatorybody said
that it would be running itsoperations following theguidance
issuedbytheUSCenters forDiseaseControl
andPrevention(CDC)andtheWhiteHouseforOpeningUpAmericaAgain.“The FDA
will resume prioritised
domesticmanufacturing inspections theweek of July20 after a
four-monthmora-torium onmost on-site
walkthroughs,’’FDAcommissionerStephenHahnsaidinastatement.“Resumingprioritiseddomes-tic
inspections will depend on the dataabout thevirus’trajectory in a
given stateand locality and the rules and
guidelinesthatareputinplacebystateandlocalgov-ernments,’’Hahnsaid.“Inordertomovetothe
next phase,we must see downwardtrends in newcases of Covid-19 and
hos-pitalisations inagivenarea.”TheFDAhasdevelopedaratingsystem
to determinewhen andwhere domesticinspections can be conducted
safely.Thethree-part rating system will indicatewhether to conduct
onlymission-critical
inspections, conduct all inspectionswithsafeguards to protect
staff that have self-identified as being part of a
vulnerablepopulation,or resume all normal regula-toryactivities
inagivengeographicarea.Incidentally,Indianpharmafirmshad
askedtheFDAtoconsideralternativemea-sures to inspect facilities,
arguing that aban onmost inspections hindered
theirabilitytodistributekeydrugs.Reportssaythat inmid-April, Indian
pharmaceuticalfirms had requested the FDA to conduct“desk
reviews”or virtual facility inspec-tions during the pandemic in
order toensure the continuous supply of much-neededdrugs in
theUS.“Themembers of Indian Pharmaceu-
tical Alliance (IPA) had asked for virtualreviews of facilities
that are new and areslated to produce a new class of drugs orhave
completed a corrective action plan
followingapreviousinspectionfailure,’’amember of IPA said. IPA
had alsorequested the FDA to consider recognis-ing
inspectionsbyforeignregulatorsandtemporarilywaiving on-site
inspectionsbased on past inspection history and thecritical nature
of products, such as drugshortages or products that do not
cur-rentlyhavegenericalternatives.However,there is no confirmation
from the regu-lating agency for conducting virtualinspections as
ondate.
USFDAto restart onsite checks fromnextweek
PRESS TRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, July 17
BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES ON Fridayreportedovertwofold increase
inconsol-idated profit at `542.68 crore for theJune quarter, on the
account of higherincome. Its profit was `248.64 crore
intheyear-agoperiod.Total income during the period under
review stood at `3,514.35 crore, up26.97%,as against `2,767.8
crore in theyear-agoquarter,BritanniaIndustriessaidina
regulatoryfiling.BritanniaIndustriesmanagingdirector
Varun Berry said: “The quarter posed
anuphilltaskfortheeconomyinwakeofCovid-19and caused significant
disruptionsdueto lockdowns imposed tocurtail its spread.Factories,
depots, transport and vendorsacrossthesupplychainwereimpacted.”As
soon as the lockdownwas eased,he
saidthecompanyfocusedongettingdistri-butionback to
thepre-Covid-19 levels
andincreasingitsruralandhinterlandreach.“Onthecostfront,wewitnessedmoder-
ateinflationinthepricesofkeyrawmateri-
als andexpect theprices to be stable
goingforwardgiventhepositiveoutlookonmon-soonandharvest,”hesaid.Berry
stated that given the dynamic
nature of the pandemic and associateduncertainty, the company
was quick toresorttocostefficienciesthroughextractionof supply
chain efficiencies, reduction
inwastagesandfixedcostsleverage.“Wealsorationalisedmediaspendscon-
sidering the constraints of inventories duetohighermarket
demand,”he
said,addingthatthecompanyisdiligentlystudyingtheimpactofCovid-19onshort-termandlong-termchangesinconsumerpreferences,dis-tributionmodelsandareconfidentofover-comingchallengeswithagility.
Britannia Industries Q1 profitjumps over twofold to `543 cr
INDU BHANNewDelhi, July 17
FORTIS HEALTHCARE (FHL) on
FridaymovedtheSupremeCourtseekingpermis-sion to allow Malaysia’s
IHH
HealthcareBerhad,whichhadinJuly2018acquiredthehospitalchainfor`4,000crore,togoaheadwithitsstalledopenoffer.FHLwantsvacation
of the apex court’s
December14,2018,orderthatputonholdthesaleofcontrollingstake(31%)inFHLtotheMalaysianfirmonacontemptpleafiledby
JapanesepharmamajorDaiichi Sankyoagainst theformerpromotersof
thehospi-talchain--MalvinderandShivinderSingh.TheSCorderformaintainingstatusquo
till furtherordersmeant that IHHHealth-carehad towait andcan't
goaheadwith itsopen offerwhichwas scheduled to
com-mencefromDecember18,2018.Seekingmodificationof theDecember
order,FHLinafreshpleastated“iftheopenoffer is allowed to be
proceededwith, nomonies will be transferred to the
Singhbrothersorthejudgmentdebtors”.Itfurthersaid“FortisHealthcareHolding
(FHHL),an entity controlled by the
Singhbrothers,holdsonly0.15%oftheapplicant’s(FHL) shares.Therefore,
if the openoffer isallowedtobeproceededwith,insignificant
sumswillbepaidtoFHHL(theholdingcom-panyofFHL)”,andalsothesumcanbedulyprotected
by the
SC.Besides,“substantialmonieswillbepaidtothepublicsharehold-ersoftheapplicant”,theapplicationstated.FHLalso
told the SC that its status quo
orderwasimpactingtheinterestsofvariouspublic shareholderswho
stand to
benefitfromtheopenofferbyNorthernTKVenture(NTK)ofFHL’sshares.IHHisalsoanindirect100%parent
entityofNTK.OnFriday,thematterwas adjourned for twoweeks
afteroneofthetwojudgesontheBenchrecusedfromthecase.Sebi has also
urged the SC to allowthe
acquirer,NorthernTKVenture,MalaysianhealthcaremajorIHH,andParkwayPantai,toproceedwithanopenoffertoacquireupto19.70lakhshares
(26%oftheexpandedvotingsharecapital)ofFHL.
Godrej leases out 2-lakh sq ft officespace toAPMoller-Maersk
inMumbai
Fortis seeksvacation of SCorderblocking stake sale toMalaysia’s
IHHHealthcare
PRESS TRUSTOF INDIANewDelhi, July 17
IT FIRM HCL Technologies on Fridayposted 31.7% rise in
consolidated netprofit in June 2020 quarter at `2,925crore, and
said it expects to see a positivegrowth trajectory in the coming
quartersonthebackof strongdealpipeline.The Noida-based company
also
announced that its founder, Shiv Nadarhas stepped down from the
chairman'sposition,and his daughter,Roshni NadarMalhotrawill
succeed him as the Chair-personof
theBoard.ShivNadarwouldcontinuetobeMDof
the company with designation as
chiefstrategyofficer,HCLTechsaid.HCLTech,whichhadpostedanetprofit
of `2,220 crore in the April-June
2019quarter(asperUSGAAP),willnotofferanysalaryincrements to its
staff this fiscal.Revenuegrew8.6%to`17,841crorein
the quarter under review from
`16,425croreinthecorrespondingquarterlastyear.Onasequentialbasis,thetoplinewaslowerby4%from`18,590croreinMarch2020.Inconstantcurrencyterms,HCLTech's
revenue in June 2020 quarter grew 1%
year-on-year.“We started theyear in themiddle of a
global health crisis and I had said weexpect Q1 to be soft and
it played out asanticipated...Not all of this dip is attrib-uted to
Covid-19, some of this reductionwas due to offshoring of large
deals envi-sioned in the previous year.HCLhas
exe-cutedthelastquarteronalmostalldimen-sions,” HCL Tech president
and CEO CVijayakumarsaid.The companysigned11netnewtrans-
formational dealswithnewbookings total
contractvaluebeinghighercomparedtothesamequarter last year,and
renewalswerealsorobustduringthequarter,headded.HCL Tech expects its
revenue to
increasequarter-on-quarterbyanaverageof 1.5-2.5% in constant
currency for thenext threequarters.Vijayakumar added that he
believes
thatthe“worstisbehind”andthat“thereisapositivegrowthtrajectoryfromnowon”.
“And that's what has given us
confi-dencetoprovideaguidanceof1.5to2.5%averagequarterlygrowthonaconstantcur-rencybasis,”he
said.Vijayakumar said lifesciences and the tech sectorare two
areas,wherethefirmcontinuestoseegrowth.“The next set of sectorswill
be finan-
cialservices,andsomeamountoftelecomsegmentwould be the next set
and thenmanufacturing and consumer packagedgoods
(CPG)retailwillbethethird.I thinkthe demand recovery will be in
thatsequence,”he said.
Asked about the suspension of
H1-BvisasbytheUS,Vijayakumarsaidthemovewas“unfortunate”butwill
haveminimalimpact on the IT services major in theshort term as it
has been investing inrampingup localhiring in that country.
Bharat Biotechbegins Covaxin trialsHUMANCLINICAL TRIAL of
BharatBiotech’s coronavirus
vaccine,Cov-axin,beganatRohtak’sPostGraduateInstituteofMedicalSciences(PGIMS)on
Friday,Haryana healthministerAnilVij
tweeted.“Threesubjectswereenrolled today.All have tolerated
thevaccine very well. There were
noadverseeffects,’’Vijsaidinatweet.BharatBiotechgot thedrug
regu-
lator’sapprovaltostartclinicaltrialsofits coronavaccine
recently.PGIMS
isoneofthe12institutesthathavebeenchosenforthe1,125-participanttrialofthevaccinecandidate,jointlydevel-oped
byBharat Biotech and IndianCouncil ofMedical Research’s Nati-onal
InstituteofVirologyinPune.
FE BUREAU
HCLTechprofit jumps32%to`2,925cr
NewDelhi, July 17
ATOTALOF 19.84 lakh passengers trav-elleddomesticallyin
Junethisyear,whichis83.5%lowerthanthefiguresofthecor-respondingperiodlastyear,theDGCAsaidonFriday.Moreover,theoccupancyrateorload
factorforfiveoutof sixmajor Indianairlines was between 50% and 60%
inJune2020,it said.“Thepassengerloadfactorinthemonth
ofJune2020hasshownasharpdeclinedueto limited air operations
because of theCovid-19
outbreak,”theDirectorateGen-eralofCivilAviation(DGCA)said.
The occupancy rate in SpiceJet was68%in June
thisyear.However,theoccu-pancy rate for other major airlines
—IndiGo,GoAir,Vistara,AirAsia India andAir India— in themonth of
June stood
at60.7%,57.9%,56.6%,56.5%and56.5%,respectively,aspertheDGCA.India
resumed domestic passenger
flightsonMay25afteragapoftwomonthsamidthecoronaviruspandemic.
—PTI
FE BUREAUMumbai, July 17
GODREJ FUND MANAGEMENT, the realestate private equity arm of the
GodrejGroup,onFridayannouncedithasleasedanoffice space of 2 lakh sq
ft to APMoller-Maersk’sbusinessunits.The office space has been
leased at
GodrejTwo,a commercial office located
inVikhroli,Mumbai.GodrejFundManagement (GFM)man-
ages$1billionworthof capital across fourfunds and Godrej Two is
the first of thedevelopment assets underGFM’sGBTC Iprogramme.It is
jointlyownedwithGodrejProperties.GodrejTwoisaGrade‘A+’officedevelopmentandispartofthelargermixedusedevelopment‘TheTrees’,whichisamixof
commercial,hospitality,retail and resi-
dentialofferings.ThelargerdevelopmentisalreadyhometotheglobalheadquartersoftheGodrejGroupandothermarqueefirms.GodrejFundManagementMDandCEO
KaranBolaria said:“Wearepleased
towel-comeAPMoller-MaerskasourfirstpartnersinGodrejTwoand look
forward to furtherstrengthening this partnership across ouroffice
portfolio.We are confident that ourproduct is future-ready and
caters to theever-changingneedsofmultinational
cor-porationsoperatinginIndia.”APMoller–MaerskisaDenmark-headq-
uarteredintegratedcontainerlogisticsfirmthatisbringingitssevenbusinessunitsfro-m
four different locations under GodrejTwo.This is the largest
co-locationprojectthatMaerskhasundertakeninIndia.JLLwasthe
exclusive transaction adviser
andhasalsobeenappointedastheprojectmanager.
HCLTech president & CEOCVijayakumar
The proceeds of the issuewill beprimarily utilised for partial
orfull pre-payment or scheduled
repayment of certain debt facilitiesof the asset SPVs availed
frombanks/financial institutions,
including any accrued interest andany applicable
penalties/premium
DGCA: Number ofdomestic flyersin June declines84%y-o-y
New Delhi
-
5FINANCIALEXPRESSWWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM SATURDAY, JULY 18,
2020
Form No. INC-26[Pursuant to rule 30 the Companies
(Incorporation) Rules, 2014]
Advertisement to be published in the newspaper for change of
registered office of thecompany from one state to another
Before the Central Government, Western Region, MumbaiEverest 5th
Floor, 100 Marine Drive, Mumbai - 400002
In the matter of sub-section (4) of Section 13 of Companies Act,
2013 and clause (a) ofsub-rule (5) of rule 30 of the Companies
(Incorporation) Rules, 2014
ANDIn the matter of MAXIUS VENTURES PRIVATE LIMITED
(CIN : U45206MH2003PTC211586), having its Registered Office atB
302, Om Samrudhi SOC. Gandhari Road, Aadharwadi, Kalyan,
Mumbai,
Maharashtra 421301,-----------------------Petitioner Company
Notice is hereby given to the General Public that the company
proposes to makeapplication to the Central Government under section
13 of the Companies Act, 2013seeking confirmation of alteration of
the Memorandum of Association of the Company interms of the special
resolution passed at the Extra ordinary general meeting held on13th
July, 2020 to enable the company to change its Registered Office
from “State ofMaharashtra” to “State of Madhya Pradesh”.Any person
whose interest is likely to be affected by the proposed change of
theregistered office of the company may deliver either on the
MCA-21 portal (www.mca.gov.in) by filing investor complaint form or
cause to be delivered or send by registeredpost of his/her
objections supported by an affidavit stating the nature of his/her
interestand grounds of opposition to the Regional Director, Everest
5TH Floor 100 Marine DriveMumbai - 400002, within fourteen days of
the date of publication of this notice with acopy to the applicant
company at its registered office at the address mentioned
above:
For and on behalf of the ApplicantMAXIUS VENTURES PRIVATE
LIMITED
Deepak Singh BisenDate: 17.07.2020 DirectorPlace: Kalyan
(Mumbai) DIN: 08066701
XTGlobal Infotech Limited(Formerly known as Frontier Informatics
Limited)
CIN:L72200TG1986PLC006644Regd Office. Plot No. 31P & 32, 3rd
Floor,Tower-A,Ramky Selenium, Financial District,
Nanakramguda,Hyderabad – 500 032.E-mail :
[email protected],
Tel: +91 040- 23007456Website: www.fitlindia.com
NOTICENotice is hereby given pursuant toRegulation 47 read with
Regulation29 and 33 of SEBI (Listing Obligationsand Disclosure
Requirements)Regulations, 2015 that a meeting ofthe Board of
Directors of XTGlobalInfotech Limited (Formerly known asFrontier
Informatics Limited) isscheduled to be held on Thursday,23rd day of
July, 2020 at 05:00 PMto consider and approve interalia
theunaudited financial results for thequarter ended 30th June, 2020
andany other matter as permitted bythe Chair.The details will be
available atwww.bseindia.com where theCompany’s shares are listed
andthe company’s websitewww.fitlindia.com.
By Order of the Board ofXTGlobal Infotech Limited
Sd/-Shikha Gangrade
CompanySecretaryDate : 15-07-2020Place : Hyderabad
L.G. BALAKRISHNAN
& BROS LIMITED6/16/13, Krishnarayapuram Road,Ganapathy,
Coimbatore - 641 006.
NOTICE
For L.G.BALAKRISHNAN & BROS LTD
M. LAKSHMI KANTH JOSHIG.M. (Legal) & Company Secretary
Coimbatore16.07.2020
Pursuant to Regulation 29 read withRegulation 47 of the
Securities andExchange Board of India (Listingo b l i g a t i o n s
a n d D i s c l o s u r eRequirements) Regulations, 2015,Notice is
hereby given that a meeting ofthe Board of Directors of the Company
isscheduled to be held on Thursday, the
th30 July, 2020 to inter alia and approvethe Audited Standalone
and ConsolidatedFinancial Results of the Company for the
thquarter ended 30 June 2020.The said Notice may be accessed on
theCompany's website at www.lgb.co.in andmay also be accessed on
the stockexchange websites at www.bseindia.comand
www.nseindia.com.
CIN: L29191TZ1956PLC000257
Ph:.0422 2532325 Fax: 0422 2532333Email
id:[email protected]: www.lgb.co.in
NOTICENotice is hereby given that pursuant to Regulation 29 (1)
(a) read with 47of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure
Requirements) Regulation2015, a Meeting of the Board of Directors
of the Company is scheduled tobe held on Monday, the 27th July,
2020 at Registered Office of the Companyat 12:15 pm, inter-alia to
consider, review and adopt Audited FinancialStatements along with
Auditor’s Report for the Fourth Quarter and yearended 31st March,
2020, to recommend dividend ,if any and Un-auditedFinancial
Statements for the First quarter/three months ended 30th June,2020
with other agenda’s to the business.Pursuant to Regulation 47(2) of
SEBI (LODR), the said Notice may beaccessed on the Company’s
website at www.spsl.com and may also beaccessed on the website of
the Stock Exchange at www.bseindia.com.
SHREE PRECOATED STEELS LIMITEDCIN: L70109MH2007PLC174206
Regd. Off.: 1, Ground Floor, Citi Mall, New Link Road, Andheri
(West)Mumbai – 400 053
By order of the BoardFor Shree Precoated Steels Ltd.
Sd/-Harsh L. Mehta
Managing DirectorPlace: MumbaiDate: 18th July 2020
Notice is hereby given in compliance with Regulation 47(1) (a)
of the SEBI (ListingObligations and Disclosure Requirements)
Regulations, 2015, that a meeting of theBoard of Directors of the
Company will be held on Friday, 24th July 2020, to considerinter
alia and to take on record, the Un-Audited Standalone &
Consolidated FinancialResults for the quarter ended 30th June
2020.
The aforesaid information is also available on the Company’s
website www.jsw.in andalso on the websites of the National Stock
Exchange of India Limited and BSE Limitedat www.nseindia.com and
www.bseindia.com respectively.
NOTICE
For JSW Steel LimitedSd/-
Lancy VargheseCompany Secretary
Place : MumbaiDate : 17.07.2020
CORPORATE IDENTIFICATION NO. (CIN) : L27102MH1994PLC152925Regd.
Office: JSW Centre, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai - 400
051
Tel.: 022-4286 1000 Fax: 022-4286 3000 Email:
[email protected]: www.jsw.in
Steel Limited
NOTICE
NOTICE is hereby given that 25th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of
the Company will be heldonWednesday, the12th August, 2020 at
03:00PM throughVideo Conferencing (VC)/ Other AudioVisual Means
(OAVM) in compliance with all the applicable provisions of the
Companies Act,2013 (Act) and the Rules made thereunder and the
Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI)(Listing Obligations
and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015 read with circular
Nos.14/2020 dated April 08, 2020, 17/2020 dated April 13, 2020 and
20/2020 dated May 05, 2020 totransact the businesses set out in the
notice calling the AGM. Members participating throughVC/OAVM will
be counted for the purpose of ascertaining the quorum under Section
103 ofthe Act.In line with the aforesaid circulars and as intimated
earlier via newspaper publication dated30th June, 2020, the Notice
calling the AGM is being sent to those shareholders, whose
emailaddresses are registered with the Company/Depository. it is
requested to the shareholderswho have not yet registered their
email addresses, to register their e-mail IDs temporarily inrespect
of shares held in dematerialised form, with the Depository through
their DepositoryParticipant(s) and in respect of shares held in
physical form through an e-mail to the Registrarand Share Transfer
Agent (RTA) of the Company, , KFin Technologies Pvt. Ltd.,
SeleniumTower B,Plot number 31 & 32, Financial District
Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500 032, Tel:+91 040 67161524,email:
[email protected] or to the Company at
[email protected] Notice calling the AGM will also be made
available on the website of the Company atwww.tcil.com, Stock
Exchanges at www.bseindia.com and www.nseindia.com and on
CentralDepository Services (India) Limited (CDSL) website at
www.evotingindia.com.The Company is providing remote e-voting to
all the shareholders to cast their votes on allresolutions set out
in the notice of the AGM as well as through e-voting system during
theAGM through the platform of CDSL. The Shareholders whose email
addresses are not registeredwith the depositories/Company for
obtaining login credentials for e-voting for the
resolutionsproposed in the notice calling the AGM, are requested to
email to the company on [email protected]. The detailed
procedure for remote e-voting is provided in the Notice.Members are
requested to update bank accountmandate for receipt of dividend
directly in theirbank account through their Depository
Participant(s) in respect of shares held in dematerialisedform and
in respect of shares held in physical form to the RTA by providing
request letteralongwith Cancelled cheque.
For Transport Corporation of India Ltd.
Place: Gurugram Archana PandeyDate: 17h July, 2020 Company
Secretary & Compliance Officer
Transport Corporation of India Ltd.CIN:
L70109TG1995PLC019116
Regd. Office : Flat Nos. 306 & 307, 3rd Floor, 1-8-271, to
273, AshokaBhoopal Chambers, S.P. Road Secunderabad - 500 003,
Telangana
Corp. Office : TCI House, 69 Institutional Area, Sector-32,
Gurugram -122 001, HaryanaTel: +91 124 2381603-07, E-mail :
[email protected],Website:www.tcil.com
New Delhi
-
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2020
FINANCIALEXPRESS6 WWW.FINANCIALEXPRESS.COM
❝ ❝
INSPIRINGTEXTPrimeminister Narendra Modi
TheTirukkural is extremely inspiring. It is a treasureofrich
thoughts, noble ideals andgreatmotivation.Thewordsof
respectedThiruvalluvar have thepower tospreadhopeandbrightness
T HERE IS AN opinionamong many policymak-ers that Universal
BasicIncome (UBI) should be asupplement to,orreplace-ment of, all
social safety nets. Theglobal economiccontraction inducedby
Covid-19 has prompted thisthought in India and
elsewhere.Sup-porters of basic income often believean unconditional
safety net can helppeopleoutofpoverty,bygiving themthe time to
apply for jobs or learnessential new skills. This is seen
asincreasingly important in the age ofautomation, which contributes
tounemployment. With the coron-avirus pandemic exacerbating
theweaker sections' financial struggles,the Spanishgovernmenthas
decidedto implement what it is calling
anationalminimumincome,ensuringthat people in around 1million
low-incomehouseholdsget roughly$500amonth in income.The plan aims
toreach 2.3 million people, and isexpected to cost the
governmentabout 3 billion euros ayear.ThespreadofCovid-19has
funda-
mentallyshakeneconomies,andpeo-plearebeginningtoquestionexistingeconomicmodels:Thispandemichashighlightedtheexisting
levelsofbothinjustice and inequality worldwide,whichcontinue to
increase.Covidhasled to lockdown of many economies,national and
local, to a contraction indemand and increasing
unemploy-mentandsalary-cuts.So,bolderstepsareneeded,notonlytoprotectpeoplefrom
such catastrophe but also toavoid continued recession.With demand
contraction, con-
tract labour,many people who workin the informal sectoraswell as
someformal sector employees arewithoutjobs.This treatmentof
labourvitiatesthe social contract between businessand labour whose
interests are not
separate but aligned. In such a situa-tion would a food safety
net, as isbeing used by India,help? It is a puregrant of five kg of
cereals and one kgof lentils per family per month foreight months
in 2020. Withoutdoubt, this direct, in-kind transfer offood is
useful,but the leakages in thesystem need to bechecked to
eliminateany slips betweenimplementation andintent. Would UBI
bebetter? We will try tofind out here.A UBI promotes
equality and provides abackstop for those wholose jobs or fail
to getone.It could remain as asafety net, but not as analternative
to employ-ment generation. Jobsremain the backbone ofa healthy
economy, andour focus should be ondeepening and widen-ing the
labour market.Moreover,formostpeo-ple, work is an impor-tant part
of life andmoney without effortwould erode their self-esteem.
Insuch a situation, the MGNREGAcouldproveagoodavailable
solution.The MGNREGA—guaranteeing
100 days of work each year to ruralIndians—is the largest social
protec-tion programme in the world, in
terms of the number of householdscovered. Since 2006, it has
beenexpanded to cover all districts inIndia, providing work to 60
millionrural households and 12 crorework-ers, @ two workers per
householdtoday.But there isunevenness inout-comesacross
thecountry.MGNREGA
implementationdependsonthesupplyofwork, rather than thedemand
for it. Supply isdetermined by differ-ences in state capacityand
intention, and localpower relations.Improving employmentoutcomes
requiresunderstanding thedemand-driven aspectsof MGNREGA through
afocus on local-focussedstudiesandfunding,andtracking of
outcomes.Even so, MGNREGA
guarantees just 100days of work,which canbe extended to
150daysin times like these.Round-the-year, unin-terrupted jobs are
noteasily available in Covid
times. Consumption demandremainsa constraint.Peoplehavenotbeen
able to step out and buy; eventhough restrictions are being
gradu-ally lifted, the uncertainty overfuture income is holding
themback.Because of this, as also other com-
pelling reasons, industry has beenhesitant to borrow and spend.
Insuch a situation,what can provide asafety net as well as
encourage peo-ple to spend and revive demand?A need-based basic
income that
can either supplement MGNREGA’s100-150daysof
guaranteedwork,orsupport for365days to thosewhodonot have any
job,would perhaps be abetteroption.This couldbe followingHughes
theory of modest basicincome@minimumwage per adultper household,
totalling about`6,000peradultpermonth.It is only$160 per household,
assuming 2adults in a household are benefitted,compared to $500
that Spain’s giv-ing. But, would it really encouragepeople to
spend?With direct transfer of food, UBI
may not be needed. But, when thefood support is replaced by
incomesupport, it would lead to spendingand boost demand aswell as
providethe needed safety net.But it maynotensure 100% spending and
inducepeople to spend some and save someoutof fearofanuncertain
future.Thisis the famousparadoxof thrift,whichleads to
reducedboostingofdemand.In suchasituation,basic incomesup-port in
the form of spending vouch-ers would not only take care of
theeconomybut also give a thrust to theKeynesian
multiplier.Assuming twoadultsperfamily,andonegets`6000in cash and
the other gets vouchersworth`6,000dividedproportionallyamong food
and other essentialexpenditure like medicine, health-care and
education, themoney flow-ing back to the economy would bemuch
higher than a plain UBI, asvouchers have to be spent and someof the
cash would be spent on itemsnot covered by the voucher, giving
ahuge push to the Keynesian
multi-plierandrevivingaggregatedemand.
● FIGHTING DEPRIVATIONINSTEADOFMAKING ITUNIVERSAL, MAKE ITAN
INCOME SUPPLEMENTFORMGNREGA-COVERED
HOUSEHOLDS, ORASUPPORTTO PLUGTHE LACKOFROUND-THE-YEAR
EMPLOYMENT
RAJARSHIGHOSH
Head, economic affairs andpolicy,IndianChamber ofCommerce
Viewsare personal
CLARAFERREIRAMARQUES
Bloomberg
MOSCOWRESEARCHERSSAYoneofthecountry’spotentialcoronavirusvac-cineshasbeenprovensafeinsmall-scalehumantrials,andisreadyforwidertests.It
shouldbe amodestwin fora countrythat has sought foryears to restore
itsSoviet-era reputation for
cutting-edgescience,andforpresidentVladimirPutin.Yet,onThursday,Britain,theUSand
CanadaaccusedRussiaofhackinginter-nationalresearchcentresthataretryingtodevelopavaccine.TheKremlindeniesany
involvement,while theheadof thecountry’s sovereignwealth fund
calledtheallegationsanattempttotarnishtheRussianresearcheffort.It’sstillanaccu-sationthatjeopardizesahoped-forinoc-ulation
boost for prestige.Old-schoolvaccine diplomacymight help.Even
inthedepthsoftheColdWar,SovietandUSdoctorscollaboratedtobattlepolio,andlatersmallpox.Russiaisalsonottheonlynationdes-
perate to arrive at a solution fast
and,preferably,first.Yetthepressurethereisacute. Putin needs to
lift his flaggingpopularity,despite aplebiscite that
thismonthoverwhelminglyapproved
con-stitutionalchangesthatcouldkeephiminpoweruntil
2036.ThenecessityhasonlyincreasedwithmassprotestsintheFarEasterncityofKhabarovsk,afterthearrestofthelocalgovernorlastweek.The
Covid-19 outbreak has been
intense inRussia,whichhas the fourth-highest numberof cases
globally.Mor-talityrateshavebeenremarkablylow,butnewcases are still
coming inat a rate ofwell over6,000aday.The
economyhastakenahit.Yetthevaccinepushisjustasmuch aboutwinningback
a status tar-nished byyears of
underinvestment,adramaticbraindrain,andallegationslastyearof
plagiarismandotherunethicalpractices that prompted hundreds
ofacademicarticlestoberetracted.Evenbeforecoronavirus,innovation
andsciencewerepillarsof
the$400bil-liondevelopmentplanPutinhopeswillform his legacy.
Unfortunately, time
pressure and flag-wavingdon’t alwaysproducethebestresults.For
now,whatwe knowof Russia’s
vaccineeffort is
encouraging.SechenovUniversityistestingavaccinedevelopedbytheGamaleyaInstituteofEpidemiol-ogyandMicrobiology
inMoscow,andpreparingtodischargeitslastvolunteersafter the initial
phase of the trial. Ittrackedanimmuneresponseandfoundthe prototype
to be safe.Themilitary,which conducted a parallel trial,
hasmadesimilarcomments,andreleaseditsownvolunteers.Russia is not as
far along as
AstraZeneca Plc and the University ofOxford or
Chineseresearchers, but it hasover a dozen promisingvaccine
candidates, andGamaleya’s is among
thefront-runners,alongwithprototypes developedbythe Vector
Institute
inSiberia,formerlythecen-teroftheSovietbiologicalweaponsresearch.Thereisstillplentywe
won’tknow,though.DatafromthefirstphaseoftheGamaleya trial is
notyetpublic andmore testingwill be required. The third and
finalphase,which tests thevaccine’s
actualeffectivenesswithalargercohort,wouldnormallytakesixmonthstoayear.Itisn’teven
clearwhetherRussia,no longer
amajorvaccineexporter,canmanufactureenough.Yetthishasn’ttemperedenthu-siasm
in state-run media or acts ofbravurasuchasresearchersatGamaleyawho
voluntarily injected themselveswith the untested
prototype.Practicessuch as state-owned Sberbank
PJSCrecruitingvolunteers for theGamaleyatrial among its own
employees byappealingtotheirpatriotism,arenolessworrying. Or
shortcuts elsewhere, aswithavagueMoscowstudythatencour-aged doctors
to test the anti-malaria
drughydroxychloroquine.Thehackingallegationsmakeitallworse.IfRussiaistoreapthediplomaticand
political benefits of ahome-grownvac-cine, it needs
suchavictoryto be
credi-ble,athomeandabroad.Followinginter-nationalnormsandcollaboratingwouldbe
a start. Indeed, Putin may have
nochoice—large-scaletrialsmayhavetobecarriedoutincountrieswheretheinfec-tionrateishigher.It
still won’t come naturally to a
nationalist Putin administration thathas long struggled to
reconcile aspira-tionsforscientificglorywithadetermi-nation to
tighten control.TheKremlin
has sought to oversee con-tacts with foreignresearchers and a
numberofacademicswithoverseaslinks have been accused oftreason.
Other govern-ments will now be extrawary too. Yet history
sug-gestsitcanbedonesuccess-fully,withtheUnitedStatesand
others.PeterHotez oftheBaylorCollegeofMedi-cine,who served as
scienceenvoyunderUS presidentBarack Obama and haswritten
extensivelyon the
issue,pointsparticularlytothecoopera-tionbetweenUSdoctorAlbertSabinandSovietvirologistMikhail
Chumakovontheoral poliovaccine in the late1950s.Relations thenhad
thaweda little afterthe death of Josef Stalin,but theywerestill
tenseandcompetitive:Sputnikwaslaunched in1957.Bothsideswanted
tostealtechnologicalsecrets.Even so a fewyears later, therewas
collaborationagainwhenSovietscien-tists pioneered a
freeze-drying tech-nique forthe smallpoxvaccine.Unfor-tunately,
today, the environmentmaybe too toxic.
This columndoesnotnecessarilyreflect theopinionofthe
editorial
boardorBloombergLPand its owners
Covid-19 and itsafter-effectsData collated so far indicate
thatpatients recovered fromCovid-19suffer from its after-effects
and showCovid-19 as a debilitating disease. Itis too early to tell
how severe theafter-effects are and how long theylinger or last.
But discharge fromhospital cannot be equatedwith therestoration of
full health for allrecovered patients.Testingnegative after the
infection does notmean full healing and return to pre-infection
normalcy for everyone.The quality of life becomesworsethan before
they got sick.The likelycontribution of residual symptomsto
long-termor chronic disabilities isone area epidemiologists
arestudying to gain a betterunderstanding.The correlationbetween
themorbidities andmedical complications before andafter Covid-19
toomerits study.Fatigue,muscle pain, difficult orlaboured
breathing, fogginess andlack of concentration are found topersist
in some recoveredCovid-19patients. Some recovered patientsfeel
discomfortwhen they performphysical activities like climbingstairs
and lifting objects; some evenfind it hard to chew and swallowfood
and speak abovewhispers,probably due tomedicalinterventions
including intubation.Themulti-organ effect ofCovid-19
isnowclinically proven.The after-effects can be diverse
andvaryconsiderably fromperson to person.Covid-19 is essentially a
severeacute respiratory disease; itdamages and scars the lungs.
Noless serious or significant arementalhealth issues faced by
therecovered patients.The after-effectswhich are nowbeing
establishedstress the need for continued careand treatment
ofCovid-19survivors.Their bearing on theproductivity of the
recoveredpatients, family incomes andeconomiesmust pale
intoinsignificance beside the fact thatthey survived the
disease.—GDavid Milton, Maruthancode
If Russia is to reap thediplomatic and political benefitsof a
home-grownvaccine, itneeds such a victory to becredible, at home
and abroad
LETTERSTOTHE EDITOR
Putinmay have nochoice but followinternational
norms—large-scaletrials may have tobe carried out in
countrieswhere theinfection rate is
higher
Getting basic income supportto deliver optimally
Cheating in the Covidvaccine race?
To get basicincome support topush demand, thegovt could think
ofgiving part of it astied-spending
vouchers, say, forfood, healthcare,education, etc. Thecash part
can also
be used bybeneficiaries forspending that isnot covered by
the
vouchers
Vaccine talk needs‘cautious optimism’
Covid vaccine progress so far is encouraging,but thereare still
toomanyuncertainties that need too be resolved
Datamarket in the offing
Meat&MethaneMethane emissions have risen drastically,
livestock
farming and fossil fuels are to blame
N
EWSOFMODERNAINC’SCovid-19vaccinecandidateinducingcreationofSARSCoV-2neutralisingantibodiesinalltrialparticipants—analysisofPhase1clinicaltrialfindingspublishedintheNewEnglandJournalofMed-icine
shows that thevaccine is also relatively safe—has sparked
somedegreeofeuphoria.ReportsinTheGuardianhavealsotalkedaboutencouragingresults(thoughunconfirmedsofar)fromthephaseoneclinicaltrialsoftheOxfordUniversity’svaccinecandidate.Indeed,thegeneraldirectionofprogressonvaccinecandidateshasbeenencouraging
so far.Even so,theglobal communitywoulddowell to temper
itsexpectations.ItisimportanttokeepinmindMerckCEOKennethFrazier’ssagewordsonhype
(even ifunintentional) aroundasuccessfulvaccine,especiallyone
touted
tobecomeavailableinthenearterm,beinga“greatdisservice”tothepublic.Frazier,inaninterviewwithaHarvardBusinessSchoolprofessor,statedthattherearemanyscien-tific
and logistical obstacles that avaccine candidatemust overcome
toprove suc-cessful.He shouldknow,havingbeenat thehelmof a
companythat has
developedmanysuccessfulvaccines,includingoneofthefewapprovedagainstEbola.Tobesure,theurgencyinthepresentinstanceisineluctable,andwithinfrastructuresupportingR&Dhavingevolvedrapidlyoverthepastfewyears,itislikelythatcertainaspectsoftri-alsnowdon’tdemandtheamountoftimetheydidearlier.However,thereisalsoaneedtounderstandthatvaccinecandidatesmayfacemanylimitations.Studies
fromChina,Germanyand theUKshowthat the antibodies Covid-19
patientsdevelopagainstSARSCoV-2couldbeshort-lived;
indeed,anongoing
ICMRstudyreportsthatnearly25%ofthesamplesofplasmafromrecoveredpatientsdid-n’thaveanyantibodies.Apartfromtheimplicationsforplasmadonationsforconva-lescent
plasma therapy,this also could be an indication that developing
long-termimmunity,whetherbecauseof
infectionorvaccine-induced,couldbedifficult,evenwithT-lymphocytes(onepartofimmunesystemmemory)inplay.Ifvaccinetrialsandotherresearcheventuallyshowthis,aone-shot-and-donevaccinewouldbeunlikely,too.And,with
rapidmutations—66,000genomic sequenceshavebeen reported
sofar—vaccinedevelopment,boosters included,will be a complicated
affair.There areotherpotential limitations also,whichneed tobe
studied overa longer time-framethanwhat all
the‘fast-trackvaccine’talkhas focussedon.For instance,even
thoughadenovirusvectorvaccines (involvingweakenedviralvectors that
act as a carrier
forpathogengenesencodingforthelatter’sproteins,whichtheninducethebodytocre-atecorrespondingantibodies)arebelievedtohavecertainadvantagesoverothervac-cines—includingDNAvaccines
onwhich these arebased—experts arewatching if
itwillalsomeanifsuchvaccinesarelesseffective.Neutralisingantibodiesagainsthumanadenoviruses
are common—more so inAfricannations than inAsian
orEuropeanones—andthereisaneedtoseehoweffectivevaccineslikeCanSinoBiologics’scandi-dateandJohnson&Johnson’scandidatefareeventually.Indeed,assomeimmunolo-gistshaveopined,eventhesiteoftheadministrationofsuchvaccinescoulddeterminewhetherantibodiesagainstthevectorareactivatedandrenderthevaccineineffective.Vaccine
talkperhapsneeds tobring inabalancebetweenoptimismandcaution.
There are toomanyuncertainties right nowto be talking of launch
in amatterofmonths—or,for thatmatter,even anear-termdeadline.There
is also aneed to
fuelresearchonotherpharmacologicalinterventions—suchasantiviralmolecules,mon-oclonalantibodies(newresearchfindingsthatestablishthegeneticbackboneofanti-bodies
that target thevirus’s spike protein,the IGHV3-53gene),newan